Machine for doubling metal plates



June 19, 1928.

' G. D. MORRISON MACHINE FOR DOUBLING METAL PLATES Filed Feb. 25', 1927 N W N M;

3 sheets-sheex l G. D. MORRISON MACHINE FOR DOUBLING METAL PLATES June 19, 1928. 1,674,478

Filed Feb. 25, 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 G. D.- MORRISON MACHINE FOR DOUBLING METAL PLATES June 19, 1928.

3 Sheets-Sheet gwvenlioz Filed Feb. 25, 1927 Patent ed June 19, 1928.

UNITED, TATES;

'GLENN n. MORRISON, or cAnon'sBUnG; rnnNsYLvArna,

can COMPANY, Inc, or rent? Yer-ta,

PATE T o'rrlcsf ASSIGNOR TO GONTITQENTAL N. A CORPORATION OF NEH YORK.

MACHINE FOR DOUBLING METAL PLATES.

Application filed February 25, 1927. Serial 110. 170,861.

on a bed and then are raised to vertical po-- sition for doubling, and before the doubling mechanism operates upon the sheets, matching levers or arms engage the ends of the sheets and position the same with their edges even and centrally disposed relative to the doubling mechanism. This means for raising the sheets is operated independently of the doubling mechanism and is actuated by a manually controlled clutch. Afterthese devices have performed their function of raising and evening the sheets, then they are released from, the actuating mechanism and returned to their initial position forreceivingother sheets. I An object of I provide a means for retarding therejt'urn of these parts to their initial position when they are released from the actuating mecha-' nism therefor. J In the drawings whiclishow by way of illustration oneernbodiment of the invention Figure 1 is a side view of a doubling machineembodyingthe improvement 1 Fix 2 is an end View of a part of the 3 machine taken from the left-hand as viewed 111 Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a View showing on an enlarged scale, and more or less d'iagrammatically,

the means for raising the arms which lift the sheets and the retarding means therefor,

and

Fig; 4 is a detail in plan showing the treadle-controlled bell crank for shifting the clutch. i I 1 q The doubling machine consists of a frame which is provided with a hed 1 and-an up-.

right-supporting part 2. The sheets to be folded are laid on the bed in horizontal-position. A' plurality of sheets are usually fold ed at thesame time,-and.in Fig. 1, the sheets 7 v are indicated at S., Afterthe sheets have beenplaced, they are raised toia verticalpo sition. as indicated by the broken lines in Fig. 1 at S. ;.This is accomplished by the swinging arms 3, 3. .There is'a pair of arms, one at eachside of the center of the heet, so that the doubling mechanism may operate the present invention is toat the center of the sheet. This doubling machine is of the type shown in the patent granted Steele July 14, 1925, No. 1,546,039, and detail description of the doubling mechanism is not thought necessary.

Only one of the matching or evening levers is shown in the drawings, as these de--' vices are similar in construction to those shown in the Steele patent. The i i'iatching lever or arm includes a member 4.. This member is pivoted at to a cross beam 6 carried by the upright portion 2 of the. machine. Rigid with the support for the member 4: is an arm 7.-

This support also carries an arm 8, and a link 9 joins the arm 8 with a similar'arm on the supporting member for the other matching lever. This causes the twomatch ing levers to work at the same time, hutof course, in oppositedirections. 1 That is, they are moved in to engage the ends ofthe sheet and then are moved away from the ends of the sheet. A spring 10 attached to the arm 7 and the frame of the machine normally holds the 'matchinglever in raised position. The matching lever is provided on. the end thereof with an arm 11 which engages the ends of thesheets. This arm'is'plvoted on the endof the matching lever. and is adform no part of thepresent invention and further description thereof is not thought I necessary. The matching levers are lowered by means of a chain or other flexible member 16 which is connected at 17 to the outer end of the arm 7. A :downward .pull on this chain willicause the matching leversto move downwardly against the tension of the spring 10 andengage the ends of'the sheet; Both matching levers are moved downwardly at the same time, and they will engage the opposite ends of the sheet, even the ends of the sheet andvplace the sheet cen-v trally on the bed for the action of the doubling mechanism.

The matching levers are held inraised position until after thelifting-arms have raisedthe sheet to vertical position. W This is accomplished by means of a. latch 18, The latch'18 is pivoted at 19 tothe beam 6, and isprovided with a finger 20 which is adapted to-engage azshoulder 21 on the arm 7. There is a weight 22 attached to the lower end ot' the latch operating member 13, and this normally holds the latch in position to engage the shoulder on the a m 7., and when so positioned. it will hold the arm raised against any downward pull on the chain 16. A link 23 is connected to this latch operating member 13 at its upper end, and this link is pivoted at 24s to a lever arm 25, which is pivotally supported on a liirardret 26. Til the free end 27 of this lever arm is engaged and raised, it will pull down on the link 23 and thus move the member 20 away from the shoulder 21 and permit the actuation of the arm 7. v

The lifting arms 3 are pivoted at 23 to the bed of the machine. The lifting arm has an extension 29 beyond the pivot 23, to which. the link. 30 is connected. The link 30 is pivoted. at 31 to an arm 32 lixed to a shaft 33. There is, of course, an arm 32, and similar connecting mechanism for each lit'ting arm. ()n the outer end of the shaft 33 there an actuating arm 3 This actualing arm 34 is provided with an idler pulley The chain 16 runs over this idler pulley, and when the chain is drawn upon. it will raise the arm 34, and this in turn will cause the lifting arms 3 to he raised to rert cal position. The end of the arm 3i is pro vided with a projecting lug 36. The end 27 of the lever arm 25 lies in the path oi movement of the end of the arm 41-, as clearly shown in Fig. It is the end oi the arm 34 which engages this member 27, and the lug 36 insures that the member 27 will not slip off from the end of the arm It will be apparent that when the chain 16 pulled upon, the first member to be actuated will he the arm 34, as the arm 7 is locked in raised position. This arm is raised to the position shown in Fig. 3, which has caused the arms 3 to be lifted to vertical. position, and then the member 27 is engaged, which releases the latch holding the arm 7 raised, and further pull on the chain 16 will then operate the matching levers.

The chain 16 is connected to a. chain drum 37 mounted on a sleeve which in turn is freely mounted on an actuating shaft 38. On this sleeve is a brake drum 39. A clutch 40 of any desired construction may be used for connecting the sleeve carrying the drum 37 to the actuating shaft 38. The clutch 40 is, shifted by means of manually operated devices. These manually operated devices include a lever 41 which is pivoted at 4:2. This lever operates upon a fork 43 which shifts the clutch parts to either connect or disconnect the actuating shaft with the drum 37 which operates upon the chain. WVhen the drum 37 is rotated, then the chain will be wound on the drum, the arm 34 raised, lifting the arms 3 and then operating the matching levers. When the clutch released, then the drum 37 is freed from the actuating shaft, and will turn so as to give up the chain and permit the parts to return to their initial position. The spring 10 will raise the n'iatching levrs, and gravity is sullicient to return the arm 34. and the arms 3, 3 to their initial horizontal position.

This return of thearms 3, 3 by gravity i. retarded, and it is this retarding means for easing the return movement of the actuated parts just described that form the principal part of the present invention. This as illustrated in the drawings, is accomplished by means of a brake shoe 44,. The brake shoe 44- is carried by a lever pivoted at 450a a bracket 46. A rod 47 passes through the end 48 of? the lever carrying the brake shoe 44. A spring 49 bears against the upper face of the end 43 ot the lever carrying the brake shoe, and also against a wing nut 50. By turning the wing nut, the tension of the spring can be varied. This spring forces the brake shoe into contact with the drum 39 and retards the movement of the drum. This braking oi the drum 39 is continuous. it does not need to be excessive in order to case the return movement of the parts actuated by the drum 39, and therefore, the

brake is continuously applied to the drum,

according to the present invention. This, however, is not: material. The essential feature is that the brake shall be applied to the drum 39, or some partmovable with the drum 37 on which the chain is Wound during return movement of arm 3.

The clutch lever 4-1 oscillated by means of a bell crank 51. This bell crank 51 is pivoted at 52 to the frame o't the machine, and is provided with aniai'm to which a link 53 is connected. This link 53 is in turn pivoted to an arm 54 pivoted at 55 in a. bracket 56. There is a second arm 57 which is rigid with the arm 54, and a plunger 53 movable vertically in suitable bearings therefor, engages the end of the arm 57. When this plunger is depressed by the operator stepping on the foot plate 59 at the upper end of the plunger 58, it will actuate the arm 54 so as to pull on the link This in turn will swing the bell crank 5]. so as to move the lower end of the lever 41. toward the center of the machine. This will move the upper end of the lever away From the center of the machine. The upper end of the lever is connected to the fork 43 which is pivoted at 60 to the bracket support therefor, and this will close the clutch. The operator, therefore, step ping on the foot plate 59 through the parts mentioned, will cause the actuating shaft, to be connected to the chain drum, and the drum turned in a counterclockwise direction as'viewed in Fig. 3. This winding up of he chain will. lift the arm 3&, thus raising the arms 3, 3 to vertical position, and this sets ion l per in the appended claims,

the stack of sheets on edge. VJhen the arm 34 engages the end '27 ofthe tripcontrol for the matching levers, then the matching levers Will he released, and thefurther Wind- 'iug'up of the chain will actuate the matching levers.

As soon as the sheets have been properly matched and centered, then the operator releases theifoot plate 59 and the spring 61' engaging the-upper end of the clutch shifting lever 41, will pullon the up end of the lever and disengage the clutch members. lVhenthe clutch members are disengaged, then the drum which Winds up the chain is free torotate in a clockwise direce tion, except for ments through the action of the brake shoe 44. The pressure of the brake shoe can be adjusted so as to put just sufiicient braking on the free running ofthe chain drum to retard the movement of the arms 3, 3 as they return to their initial position. This pre vents the arms from dropping suddenly and breaking.

The foot treadle or plate 62 is for controlling the doubling mechanism, and therefore, after the plates have been properly positioned, the operator stepping upon the foot plate 62 \vil.l cause the doubling mechanism to be actuated. This mechanism, as above,

noted, forms nolpart of the present invention and has not been shown. It is'obvious that minor details of construction and the arrangement of the parts may he made Without departing from the spirit of the invention as set forth Having thus I claim as new and ters Patent, isv p 1. A machine for doubling metal sheets including in combination, a supporting bed, lifting arms adapted to receive the sheets in horizontal position and for raising said sheets to vertical position, manually controlled means for raising said arms to vertical position including an actuatingshaft, a clutch for connecting said means for lifting the arms, manually operated devices for shifting and releasing the clutch, and means for retarding the return movement of the arms when released from the actuating mechanism therefor;

2. A machine for doubling metal sheets inclu'dingin combination, a supporting bed,

lifting arms adapted to receive the sheets in I horizontal position "and for raising said sheets to vertical position, manually controlled means for raising said arms to vertical position including an actuating shaft, a clutch for connecting said shaft to the means for lifting the arms, manually operated de vices for shifting and'releasing the clutch, and means for retarding the return move- -ment of the arms When released from the actuating mechanism therefor, said means the retarding ofits move changes in the described the invention, wh'at desire to secure by Letshaft to the for retarding the return movement of the arms includinga brake drum and Ya brake shoe adapted to engage said brake drum. A machine for doubling metal sheets including iijroombination, a support ng bed,

lifting arm's adapted to receive the sheets in ated devices for shifting and releasing the clutch, means for retarding the return movement of the arms when released from the actuating mechanism therefor, said means for retarding the return movement of the arms including a brake drum and a brake shoe adapted to engage said brake drum, and;

an adjustable tension means for continuously pressing said brake shoe against said drum.

4:. A machine for doubling metal sheets including a bed, lifting arms for receiving said sheets .in horizontal position and movable to vertical position for raising the sheets, devices for raising said lifting arms, matching levers for engaging the ends of the sheets for positioning the sheets on the bed, an

actuating shaft, a chain drum freely mounted on said shaft, a chain running over said drum and connected to said devices for raising the arms and for actuating said matching levers, a manually controlled clutch for connecting said chain drum to said actuating shaft, and means for retarding the movement of said chain drum Whenreleased from said actuating shaft for retarding the return movements of said arms and matching lovers to initial position. I

5. A machine for doubling metal sheets including a bed, lifting arms for receiving said sheetsin horizontal position and movable to vertical position for raisingv the sheets, matching levers for engaging the ends of the sheets for positioning the sheets on the bed, an actuating shaft, devices for raising said arms, a chain drum freely mounted on said shaft,a chain running over said drum and connected to said devices for raising the arms and for actuatlng said matching levers, a manually cont-rolled clutch for connecting said chain drum to said actuating shaft, and meansfor retarding'the movement of said cha-indrum When released from said actu ating shaft for retarding the return movements of said arms and matching levers to. initial position, said retarding means including abrake drum connected'to said chain drum, and a brake shoe adapted to bear against said brake drum. v

6. A machine for] doubling metal sheets including a bed, lifting arms for receiving said sheets in horizontal position and movable to vertical position for raising the sheets, matching levers for engaging the ends IO said chain drum when released from said actuating shaft for retarding the return 'lUOVGlDOfllTS ol said arms and matching levers to initial posit-ion, said retarding means incl uding a brake drum connected to said chain drum, a brake shoe adapted to bear against said brake drum, and adjustable tension means for continuously pressing said brake shoe against said brake drum. I

In testimony whereof, Iaffix my signature.

GLENN D. MORRISON. 

